Interesting, how the law evolve to take into account deviant behaviours? Is trolling a cybercrime?When you could encounter shocking images on 4chan & cie, when trolling is common everywhere on the web, a troll has been jailed for trolling a memorial page on facebook... It is very unusual, because trolls are commonly banned (no consequences on on reality). But this time, things have been different..

yes, I agree, it's strange that action should have been taken that goes outside of the average user banning practice. especially considering the abundance of similar material elsewhere on the net. sites such as 4chan, by their vary nature, are essentially the reflection of what one might call the 'deep' internet, the very core of which is primarily the unrestrained expression of anything and everything, as much disturbing as it can be entertaining.

on the other side of the spectrum there are tempered sites such as facebook, catering to 'acceptable' mainstream society (and namely lucrative enterprise) and which are often more tightly controlled and constantly surveilled in order to ensure continued popularity (and therefore maximum commercial value).

the legality or not of this person's actions are in my opinion irrelevant and probably obscure the real issue at hand. i find it hard to accept a justice system that allows double standards. all illegal content needs to be either investigated and dealt with equally across the board or left to the discretion of the site owner to mitigate accordingly.

as it turned out, the police would not have found the images of child pornography that unwittingly led to his arrest if they had not decided to investigate the initial 'trolling'. i also wonder at the harassment charge, 'using the internet to menace, harass or cause offence' - undoubtedly a charge that would never have gone past the all-encompassing right to freedom of expression in the US (however offensive that expression may have been).